Man pleads guilty to Brooklyn Park shooting

October 11, 2012 — 8:28pm

Jeff Wheeler, Star TribuneA 16-year-old boy was killed in April when a companion sprayed gunfire during a confrontation in the parking lot of Central Park in Brooklyn Park. Sentencing in the case is set for Nov. 19.

A 19-year-old man is expected to be sent to prison for 21 years after pleading guilty Thursday to accidentally shooting and killing a friend during a fight in a Brooklyn Park parking lot.

Deshawn Deaondre Roberts admitted that he opened fire in the parking lot of Central Park on April 24 and hit his friend, 16-year-old Terrence Creamer, in the head. Creamer died five days later.

Prosecutors said they are seeking the severe sentence because the shooting endangered others in the park.

"When a young man wildly fires more than a half-dozen shots and leaves one person dead, we push for long prison terms," Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in a statement.

According to the criminal complaint, police were dispatched to the park around 8:30 p.m. and found Creamer bleeding and unconscious.

Witnesses said that a group of people had been at the park for a barbecue. There had been a disagreement that caused some people to meet in the parking lot where Roberts was apparently going to fight another man. During the confrontation, Roberts took out a gun and started shooting.

Roberts told authorities that he shot his gun, a 9-millimeter, about six or seven times at people in the parking lot, but that he didn't intend to hit Creamer.